Part journal, part nonsense, part sublime inspiration, wholly Faith-ful

The Soundtrack to My Life

I saw this at Pop Sensation, and decided to play along, since it’s a slow day today.

If your life were a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every category (see below), type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button.
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool.

Here are the categories, and my results / responses:

Opening credits: Our Last Summer – Mamma Mia! soundtrack. Starting off with nostalgia? Doesn’t that seem a little, well, odd? Of course, it could be argued that I’m a little (or a lot) odd, so perhaps it all fits.

Waking up: Indian Reservation – Paul Revere & The Raiders. Well, I am part Cherokee. And I can be pretty foul-tempered sometimes in the mornings, although I’ll never match up to the Incomparable Izzybella, who once slugged our brother’s friend when he dared to say “good morning, sunshine” on the first day of school.

[apparently we flash back to my childhood now…]

First day of school: Seasons of Love – Original Broadway Cast Recording, Rent. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, how do you measure a year? In being a suck-up to the teachers, in getting bullied by the people who hated suck-ups, in either being crazy about doing homework or totally avoiding it, in coming up with incredibly creative ways to deal with punishments meted out by teachers. Ah, school.

Falling in love: San Francisco – The Weepies. “I’m gonna stay high, lie low.” It’s a love song of sorts, so I guess it works here. Not what I would have chosen, of course.

First love song: The Luckiest – Ben Folds. Awww! I love this song! “I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you.” I love Ben Folds’s cussing songs, and I love the sweet, tender way he does this one.

Breaking up – I’m the Only One – Melissa Etheridge. You stupid git! You’re breaking up with me, when I’m the only one who’d walk across a fire for you! Or is that why you’re breaking up, ’cause I’m crazy enough to walk across a fire? Okay, seriously, I never walked across a fire, but I did once break a board with my hand. No kidding! It was fun! And if you ever break up with me again, I’ll do it again! (breathes heavily) Okay. I’m calm now.

Prom – I Want to Be Alone – Green Day. I didn’t really have a boyfriend then. I had a huge crush on the guy I invited to prom, and we had a so-so time. (He went to another school, which is why I invited him, instead of waiting to be invited.) He was a sweetie, of course, but he in turn had a huge crush on one of our mutual friends. It was a little bizarre. But then, much of my life is. Bizarre, I mean, and not in a small way. But I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted to have the prom experience that everyone assured me was an essential part of growing up.

Mental breakdown – Star Dust – Louis Armstrong Orchestra. This jazzy instrumental doesn’t remind me at all of a mental breakdown. It’s so nice and upbeat. How about we reverse this one with the prom song, and then you’d totally have it right.

Driving – Stop Thinking About It – Joe Ramone. “Nothing lasts forever and nothing stays the same.” So you may as well drive since everything’s going to change.

Flashback – Hotel Song – Regina Spektor. “Come in, come in, come into my world I’ve to to show, show show you.” With dreams of orca whales and owls, this could lead to a fantastic flashback. I used to have an enormous poster of a humpback whale in my office at the University of Utah. It freaked me, to be honest. It was so enormous, and it made me feel small and insignificant.

Getting back together – Mama Tried – Randy Travis (or, as my husband calls him, Randy Travers). “I turned 21 in prison, doing life without parole.” Um, no. Not really. Well, the life without parole part, sure, if you look at life as a prison sentence. But not literally. Not stone walls and iron bars prison.

Wedding – Eskimo – Damien Rice. “I look to my Eskimo friend when I’m down, down, down.” Not very weddingish, is it, unless your spouse is an Eskimo. Mine’s not. Mine’s a Polish Yankee. Of course, “our song” is Proud Mary (the CCR version, not the Tina Turner version), so who am I to complain about this song?

Birth of child – Paper Moon – Erin McKeown. This is my favourite version of another song I’ve loved for years. “It’s only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea. But it wouldn’t be make-believe if you were here with me.” Yeah, that’s a good way to describe my feelings about my children, since they’re not here.

Final battle – The Mummers’ Dance – Loreena McKennitt. “And so they linked their hands and danced Round in circles and in rows And so the journey of the night descends When all the shades are gone.” I guess that means I won my final battle, which is nice.

Death scene – Bad Dreams – Joni Mitchell. I like the song, but I don’t think it particularly fits my death scene. Doesn’t work for me, really. “Bad dreams are good In the great plan.”

Funeral song – Do You Realize?? – The Flaming Lips. Okay, now this one is a cool funeral song. “And instead of saying all of your goodbyes – let them know You realize that life goes fast It’s hard to make the good things last You realize the sun doesn’t go down It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.”

End credits – Lie Lie Lie Lie – Chumbawamba. “Your life is a dream, and then you wake up.” Cool! That’s sort of how I think of life, sometimes, as a dream and one of these days I’ll wake up and life will be something altogether different.

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Feel free to email me at chauceriangirl(at) gmail (dot) com, if you'd like to say something but don't feel like leaving a comment on the blog.

"You can get sympathy or you can get better, but you can't get both. You can be in your comfort zone or you can have growth, but you can't have both. You can be interested or you can be sold-out committed, but you can't entertain both. You can have excuses or have results, but you can't do both. Choose the path that develops your visceral fortitude." ---Mario Cortes

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